BOXART STORY

#84195

Cormeilles-En-Vexin

Part of the preparations for the opening up

of the Western Front in 1944 were systematic

attacks

against

Luftwaffe

transport

infrastructure and airfields in northern France

and the Netherlands. Supporting the nearing

invasion by massive amounts of ground troops

was dependent on securing air supremacy,

along with crippling enemy supply routes, two

factors that would be of decisive importance

to the success of the entire operation. The

weight of this task rested mainly on fighters

and medium bombers of the RAF and USAAF.

The most accurate tools of the trade were

to be single engined fighters. Particularly

suited for the task in the RAF were the

Hurricane Mk.IIb or Mk.IV, which, however,

had their heyday behind them, and the more

modern Typhoons and Tempests from the same

manufacturer.

An invasion of the European mainland coast

was almost imminent when, on the morning

of May 28th, 1944, a combat reconnaissance

conducted by RAF Spitfires discovered a large

number of Luftwaffe single and twin-engined

aircraft at airfields near Paris. On the same

day, nine Tempests from No.3 Squadron RAF,

subordinate to No.150 Wing and under the

command of W/Cdr Roland P. Beamont himself,

D.S.O, DFC & Bar headed for France. Before

the group crossed the Channel, the pilots of

four Tempests had to turn around for an early

return due to various issues. The remaining

five crossed the coast at 8,000 feet at Ault

and headed straight for Cormeilles-En-Vexin

airfield northwest of Paris. The tight formation

38

INFO Eduard

of Tempests arrived at the base around 5:30

p.m., and from an area of unlimited visibility,

they dove into smoke, which reduced visibility

to 5-6 miles from the ground up to 5,000 feet.

Nevertheless, the Tempest pilots spotted

five twin-engine bombers on the southern

perimeter of the airfield, which they identified

as Ju 88s or Ju 188s. W/Cdr Beamont led his

group in a descending turn so that they got

the thin fog breaking through the sun behind

them and attacked at low altitude and high

speed. Roland Beamont chose a single, darkly

camouflaged twin engined target, positioned

between blast shelter walls. The bomber was

almost head-on from the approaching Tempest,

and at 470 miles per hour, destruction was only

a matter of seconds. Beamont opened fire from

less than 2,500 feet: ‘„…a short ranging burst

and then hard down on the trigger, ruddering

correction as necessary, as the blast pen

erupted in strikes, with bursts all over the

bomber and a large piece of it flying in the air

as I snatched at the stick at the last moment to

avoid flying headlong into the target.’.

The five made only one pass over the strip. To

turn around would be to attract the attention of

defensive flak. Thanks to the tactical advantage

of smoke reducing visibility, launching the

attack from the sun, high speed and, above

all, the nerves of steel of W/Cdr Beamont

and his boys, they escaped unscathed. Add to

that the fact that they practically nailed their

Tempests almost into the ground. Inaccurate

light flak was only noted as the group crossed

the runway. The British airmen stuck to the

Text: Jan Zdiarský

Illustration: Adam Tooby

ground for another two or three miles beyond

the airfield before beginning to climb. Behind

them they saw two prominent columns

of smoke. Each of them came to their own.

W/Cdr Beamont was credited with one Ju 88

destroyed, the remaining three airmen shared

another Junkers destroyed and two damaged.

After another thirty-five minutes, the members

of this informal multinational squadron (three

British, one Australian and one Polish) landed

at their home field.

Because aircraft lost in ground attacks

usually did not make into Luftwaffe reports

accessible today, it is difficult to determine

the identity of the destroyed aircraft. There

was most likely a Ju 88 S, and possibly

a Ju 88 D from 6.(F)/123 (reconnaissance

unit Aufklärungsgruppe 123). A Ju 188 F from

13.(F)/122 cannot be ruled out either.

W/ Cdr. Roland Beamont scored six aerial

victories, and another shared, one probable

and two enemy aircraft damaged. In addition,

a number of targets were destroyed on

the ground and, above all, an incredible 32

destroyed V-1s. On October 12th, 1944, during

an attack on the Rheine airfield, he was shot

down himself and taken prisoner. After the war,

he worked, among other things, as Chief Test

Pilot for English Electric and in the position of

Director of Flying Operations at BAC.

(I would like to thank Jan Bobek, Matti Salonen

and Michal Krechowski for help with sources for this

story)

November 2023